Tour teams game culture with fast-moving rock

September 30, 2005|By Eric Gwinn, Tribune staff reporter

The Nintendo Fusion Tour lands in Chicago's Aragon Ballroom Friday night for a sold-out performance--led by Windy City emo band Fall Out Boy.

Like other venues on the tour, the Aragon will have a dozen or so GameCube, Game Boy Advance and DS systems concertgoers can try for free before the concert, including "Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" and the latest "Nintendogs" games.

Nintendo's marketing effort--the tour is in its third year--aims to make video-game converts among the concertgoers and give the Big N's loyal fan base a taste of new games.

Twenty years ago, Nintendo was the iPod of video games. Its simple controls and addictive games made "Nintendo" synonymous with "video games." Two decades later, Nintendo has been out-sold by Sony (PlayStation 2) and Microsoft (Xbox), which both have their own music-and-games tours. But Nintendo remains a force. Last weekend, 1,500 fans visited New York's Nintendo World Store to meet Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of "Zelda," "Super Mario Bros." and "Donkey Kong."

The rock-only lineup--also playing will be Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, Boys Night Out and Panic! at the Disco--belies the fusion of sounds implied by the tour's name.

Still, there's no arguing the marriage of music and video games. (Music has been a part of gaming since Nintendo's "Final Fantasy" series in the late '80s.) The Chicagoland Pops Orchestra in Rosemont performed music from the games for a sold-out crowd in February.

What's more, rock songs have made their entrance into games. The most recent "Grand Theft Auto" paid record companies big bucks to spice the soundtracks with familiar music.

Friday night's show is sold out, but the Nintendo tour returns to the Chicago region with a Nov. 16 stop in Milwaukee and a Nov. 19 show in Champaign.